''The Sable Lorcha'' is a novel by

Horace Hazeltine Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...

that was adapted into a 1915

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

Book

The book was published by A. C. McLurg & Co. in 1912. A contemporary review in the ''

San Francisco Call ''The San Francisco Call'' was a newspaper that served San Francisco, California. Because of a succession of mergers with other newspapers, the paper variously came to be called ''The San Francisco Call & Post'', the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin ...

'' states that the excitement never flags and it is well written, though requiring some suspension of disbelief. It includes Illustrations by J. J. Gould.

Film

The film was directed by

Lloyd Ingraham Lloyd Chauncey Ingraham (November 30, 1874 – April 4, 1956) was an American film actor and director. Biography Born in Rochelle, Illinois, Ingraham appeared in more than 280 films between 1912 and 1950, as well as directing more than 100 f ...

and the screenwriter was Cecil B. Clapp. It starred

Tully Marshall Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...

Thomas Jefferson (actor) Thomas Lockyer Jefferson (September 10, 1856 – April 2, 1932) was an American film and stage actor in mostly silent films. Biography He was born to Margaret Clements Lockyer (died 1861) and actor Joseph Jefferson. The '' Burns Mantle Yearbook' ...

Charles Lee (actor) Charles Lee may refer to: Politics *Charles Lee (Attorney General) (1758–1815), lawyer and United States Attorney General *Charles Lee (Australian politician) (1842–1926), Minister for Justice, 1898–1899, and Secretary for Public Works, 1899 ...

Elmer Clifton Elmer Clifton (March 14, 1890 – October 15, 1949) was an American writer, director and actor from the early silent days. A collaborator of D.W. Griffith, he appeared in ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915) and ''Intolerance'' (1916) before giving ...

Loretta Blake Loretta Blake (April 17, 1898 – July 30, 1981) was an American film actress. She appeared in several films between 1914 and 1921. Early life Loretta Blake was born on April 17, 1898 at Akron, Ohio. She attended Saint Mary's Convent in Akron ...

George C. Pearce George C. Pearce (June 26, 1865 – August 13, 1940) was an American stage and film actor, primarily of the silent film, silent era. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1914 and 1939. He was born in New York, New York, and died in Los ...

Hal Wilson Hal Wilson (also credited Harold Wilson; born Hippocrates Wolfarth, October 2, 1861 – May 22, 1933), was a character actor who appeared in silent films. He was born in New York City.(14 October 1914)Hal Wilson's Career: Eclair Character Actor B ...

Raymond Wells Raymond Wells (1880–1941) was an American actor, screenwriter, and film director of the silent era.Goble p. 324 He is sometimes credited as Raymond B. Wells. Partial filmography * '' Old Heidelberg'' (1915) (actor) * ''The Sable Lorcha'' (19 ...

Earle Raymond Earle may refer to: * Earle (given name) * Earle (surname) Places * Earle, Arkansas, a city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, US * Earle, Indiana, an unincorporated town in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, US * Earle, Northumberland, a settlement i ...

, and

Henry Kotani was a pioneering Japanese film director and cinematographer. Career Born Kuraichi Kotani in Hiroshima Prefecture, Kotani emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was still a boy. Graduating from high school, he began working ...

. Cinematographers were

and

Hugh McClung Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

. D. W. Griffith supervised the production. The story features two long-separated brothers, murder, vengeance, and a kidnapping.

Plot

Robert and Donald Cameron are twins in a Scottish family which is separated by the death of the mother. Robert is brought to America by his father, and Donald is adopted by a family named McNish. Robert prospers in the new land, but Donald goes to the bad, runs away to sea and becomes a smuggler of Chinese to America. On one of his expeditions he scuttles a junk, or Lorcha, and a hundred Chinese perish. The only survivor is the cook, a half-breed, John Soy. Soy and an Irish soldier of fortune. Murphy, aid the kinsmen of the dead in a world-wide search for McNish. One day Murphy sees Cameron, mistakes him for his brother, McNish, and puts the avengers on his track. Cameron, who has a fine Connecticut estate, receives a warning from the Chinese, the only signature being a silhouette of the Sable Lorcha, or funeral ship. Apparently before his very eyes his portrait has been beheaded. A second warning is received. Cameron at once sends for a young friend and neighbor, Phillip Clyde, who is in love with Cameron's niece and ward, Evelyn Grayson. The second threat is carried out by the crashing to atoms of a mirror by unseen hands. Cameron and Clyde are mystified as a third threat comes, declaring that before the morning of the third day Cameron will pass from sight of man. The two men go to sea in a yacht, but the avengers follow in a fast tug, drop Soy in an open boat in the yacht's course and put their man on board when he is picked up in the belief that he is a castaway fisherman. Soy now uses a Chinese anaesthetic with which he has performed the other two mysteries. Cameron and Clyde are rendered unconscious and the former is taken off to the tug. In a box the doomed man is taken to Chinatown, where revenge is to be obtained. Later Clyde comes ashore, meets Soy by chance, and follows him to a Chinatown cellar. There a box is found similar to the one in which Cameron is being taken from the yacht. It contains nothing, however, but Chinese merchandise, and while Clyde goes to seek aid from the police the box containing Cameron is taken away. Meanwhile, in front of Cameron's Fifth Avenue mansion, appears an unkempt and sickly individual who later is found to be McNish. He has escaped from two Chinamen who thought he was Cameron. The police follow one of the avengers to a house in Chinatown, where a large tank has been prepared and Cameron is to be bound while the water rises and brings slow torture and death. They arrive with McNish in time to reveal the error of the Chinese and McNish, the guilty one, dies. Thus is solved the mystery of "The Sable Lorcha.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sable Lorcha, The 1915 films 1915 mystery films American black-and-white films American silent films American mystery films 1910s American films